{"id":8500,"date":"2026-10-26T18:39:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T09:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/?post_type=sweetlore&p=8500"},"modified":"2026-10-31T18:50:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:50:55","slug":"rasgulla","status":"publish","type":"sweetlore","link":"https:\/\/parade.kyoto\/en\/sweetlore\/rasgulla\/","title":{"rendered":"Rasgulla"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Slip a spoon into the round white sweet and sweet syrup seeps out of the dough, which is made from curdled milk. Rasgulla is a sweet made by kneading chhena (milk curdled with acid), rolling it into balls and cooking them in sugar syrup. A spongy springiness and high moisture content are its hallmarks, but Odisha\u2019s Rasagola ranges from cream-colored to brown. Color, springiness and the condition of the syrup vary from place to place.<\/p>\n

Keeping Chhena from Becoming a Hard Cheese<\/h2>\n

Chhena is made by adding acid to heated milk so that its proteins coagulate, then draining off the whey through cloth. It is a soft dairy product that still holds moisture and is used without ripening. Firmness and water-holding capacity vary even among ingredients that share this name. They depend on the type of milk, the strength of the acid, the coagulation temperature and how the whey is drained.<\/p>\n

Rasgulla requires chhena that does not crack when rolled and can absorb syrup after cooking. Cow\u2019s milk generally makes it easier to get chhena with a soft texture. Buffalo milk tends to make chhena harder and coarser, so the method has to be adjusted. Fat content also affects the result. With too little milk fat the chhena turns hard, and with too much the fat seeps out during kneading and the dough becomes sticky. The state of the water, milk fat and milk proteins all bears on the softness.<\/p>\n

The chhena is kneaded until smooth and shaped into round balls with no cracks on the surface. Some methods add a small amount of semolina or wheat flour to adjust the dough. The aim is to build a structure based mainly on milk protein and to heat it in syrup while keeping that structure intact.<\/p>\n

\n\"Rasgulla\n
Wedding preparations in Fatehgarh Panjgraian village, Sangrur, Punjab, India (February 2, 2021). Dough rolled into smooth balls sits on the worktable. Photo: Satdeep Gill \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downsized version obtained from Commons. No alterations to the content and no cropping.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

The Syrup for Cooking and the Syrup for Soaking<\/h2>\n

The concentration of the syrup does more than adjust the sweetness. It is also one of the production conditions. In one example given in technical materials, the rolled dough is cooked in a heavy syrup and then moved to a thinner syrup to soak. Water evaporates during cooking, so water is added to keep the concentration steady. The condition of the liquid is adjusted for the cooking stage and again for the stage in which the balls take up syrup.<\/p>\n

The dough swells as it heats, so the pot needs room for the balls to move. In chhena, milk proteins are packed relatively densely. Even so, samples cooked in syrup have been observed to change into a porous structure with large voids. This structure is one reason the finished rasgulla is soaked with syrup to the center and stays springy. Rasgulla also differs from gulab jamun<\/a>, whose core of reduced milk is fried and then soaked in syrup, in the step that solidifies the milk and in the method of heating.<\/p>\n

\n\"White\n
Rasgulla paired with rabri, a sweet made from thickened milk (June 21, 2015). An example of serving the white balls with another milk sweet. Photo: Prakrutim \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downsized version obtained from Commons. No alterations to the content and no cropping.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Confectioners\u2019 Experiments and the Names of Sweets in Texts<\/h2>\n

The Kolkata confectioner Nobin Chandra Das and the year 1868 come up again and again in histories of Bengal\u2019s white, springy rosogolla. According to the Das family, this sweet was the result of many attempts to keep balls of chhena from falling apart when cooked in syrup. From the late 19th to the early 20th century, the Mullick family of Bhowanipore, Chittaranjan Mistanna Bhandar of Shovabazar and others also kept refining the sweet, each toward its own texture. In 1930, K.C. Das launched canned rasgulla, which made it easier for this perishable milk sweet to reach places beyond Kolkata.<\/p>\n

There is also a story about an earlier sweet. It concerns Haradhan Moira, who made sweets in Phulia for the Pal Chowdhury family of Ranaghat. In this tale of accidental discovery, balls of chhena fell into boiling syrup and a sweet was born. A 2021 review by the food researcher Sarkar and colleagues also takes up these lineages of confectioners. Refining the white, spongy sweet took experiments by several confectioners and shops, not only by one famous shop.<\/p>\n

On the Odisha side, there is a textual argument that the name rasagola appears in the Dandi Ramayana, written in the 15th\u201316th century by the poet Balaram Das. Sarkar and colleagues cite a literary anthology published in 1921, where the name appears in one scene. Rama\u2019s younger brothers Bharata and Shatrughna are searching for him. On their journey they visit the sage Bharadvaja, who hosts them with milk sweets and other foods. This is an example of a sweet\u2019s name appearing at a meal in literature. The scene does not describe production steps in enough detail to reproduce today\u2019s way of handling chhena and syrup.<\/p>\n

From an Offering to the Gods to Roadside Shops and Boxed Products<\/h2>\n

In Odisha, rasagola is closely tied to the rituals of the Jagannath Temple in Puri. Each year after the Ratha Jatra, the sweet is offered to the goddess Lakshmi at Niladri Bije, when Lord Jagannath returns. According to tradition, the goddess was unable to go on the journey with him, so she refuses to let the returning god enter. She is won back when he gives her rasagola. In this story, the rasagola the god gives the goddess serves as an offering of reconciliation. It is a story of faith and is different in nature from a production record that would show when the sweet was invented.<\/p>\n

Rasagola shops are clustered in Pahala, which lies along the road linking Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. A 2019 account of a visit there records one shop\u2019s method. The shop combines chhena with semolina and cardamom, rolls the mixture into balls and cooks them in a heavy syrup. Some rasagola are made with sugar syrup and some with jaggery syrup, and their sizes also vary, so Odisha\u2019s sweet cannot be described by just one color or firmness.<\/p>\n

In Salepur, near Cuttack, the shop of Bikalananda Kar is widely known. In a 2025 interview, his granddaughter said that he started selling handmade rasagola from a hut around 1924\u201325. The business began by traveling to village festivals and markets. In the next generation it grew to include mechanization and packaging. A separate interview from 2017 describes trial and error in adjusting the syrup and the chewiness to make a product that could be stored and transported. Even in the same shop, a milk sweet eaten fresh at the storefront and one sent to distant places needed different finishes.<\/p>\n

Under the geographical indication (GI) system as well, \u201cBanglar Rasogolla\u201d (2017) and \u201cOdisha Rasagola\u201d (2019) were registered under separate names. Odisha\u2019s registration number is 612. The characteristics of each product bearing its regional name are protected separately. The Odisha version differs in color because the sugar is heated, and it also differs from the white Bengal version in softness and in the condition of its syrup.<\/p>\n

\n\"Rasgulla\n
Wedding preparations in the same village (February 2, 2021). Many balls have been prepared on a large tray, which shows how many are made at once for a celebration. Photo: Satdeep Gill \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a> \/ CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>. Downsized version obtained from Commons. No alterations to the content and no cropping.<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Glossary<\/h2>\n

Pal Chowdhury family<\/strong>: An influential family of Ranaghat in Bengal. They appear in the tradition that says Haradhan Moira made sweets for them.<\/p>

Bharata \/ Shatrughna<\/strong>: Rama\u2019s younger brothers in the Ramayana. They appear in the hospitality scene from the Odia version discussed in the text.<\/p>

Bharadvaja<\/strong>: A sage in the Ramayana. In the scene mentioned in the text, he hosts Rama\u2019s younger brothers while they search for Rama.<\/p>

Porous<\/strong>: Describes a structure with many small voids inside. This structure is seen in the milk proteins of rasgulla cooked in syrup.<\/p>

Mullick family<\/strong>: A family that made sweets in Bhowanipore, Kolkata. Their work led to the later Balaram shop.<\/p>

Chittaranjan Mistanna Bhandar<\/strong>: A sweet shop in Shovabazar, Kolkata. It is one of the shops that kept refining rasgulla.<\/p>

K.C. Das<\/strong>: A line of sweet shops named after Krishna Chandra Das. It is known for canning rasgulla.<\/p>

Haradhan Moira<\/strong>: A confectioner who appears in a discovery story as an earlier maker of Bengal\u2019s rasgulla.<\/p>

Sarkar<\/strong>: Tanmay Sarkar, a co-author of a 2021 academic review that brings together the history of rasgulla and research on how it is made.<\/p>

Balaram Das<\/strong>: An Odia poet. He wrote the Dandi Ramayana.<\/p>

Dandi Ramayana<\/strong>: A literary work that tells the story of Rama in Odia. Scholars have discussed the passage in which the name rasagola appears.<\/p>

Rama<\/strong>: The hero of the Indian epic Ramayana.<\/p>

Pahala<\/strong>: A place between Bhubaneswar and Cuttack where many rasagola shops are located.<\/p>

Salepur<\/strong>: A town near Cuttack. It is known for the sweet shop of Bikalananda Kar.<\/p>

Bikalananda Kar<\/strong>: A confectioner who built up the rasagola trade in Salepur.<\/p>

Chhena<\/strong>: A soft dairy product made by curdling heated milk with acid and draining off the whey through cloth.<\/p>

Whey<\/strong>: The liquid that separates after milk coagulates. It contains water, lactose and other components.<\/p>

Semolina<\/strong>: Coarsely ground wheat flour. Some methods add a small amount to adjust the dough.<\/p>

Nobin Chandra Das<\/strong>: A 19th-century confectioner in Kolkata. He is associated with the development of the white, spongy rosogolla.<\/p>

Jagannath<\/strong>: A god worshipped in Puri, Odisha. Rasagola also has a role in the temple\u2019s ritual for his return.<\/p>

Lakshmi<\/strong>: A goddess who appears as Jagannath\u2019s consort in the offering tradition described in the text.<\/p>

Niladri Bije<\/strong>: The ritual in which Jagannath returns to the temple after the Ratha Jatra journey.<\/p>

Jaggery<\/strong>: A minimally refined sugar. In Pahala, some makers use it to sweeten the syrup.<\/p>

Geographical indication (GI)<\/strong>: A system that protects the names and characteristics of products tied to a particular place. It is not a system for deciding who invented something.<\/p>

References<\/h2>\n
  1. INFLIBNET, \u201cChhana based sweetmeats\u201d<\/a> \u2014 Milk coagulation and the properties of chhena, kneading, and the syrups for cooking and soaking.<\/li>
  2. Odisha Tourism, \u201cRasagola\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The story behind the temple ritual, color and regional methods.<\/li>
  3. Intellectual Property India, \u201cGI Application Details No.612\u201d<\/a> \u2014 The registration of Odisha Rasagola and its region.<\/li>
  4. Sarkar et al., \u201cRasgulla\u2014the ethnic Indian sweetmeat delicacy,\u201d 2021<\/a> \u2014 The account of an earlier confectioner, the hospitality scene in the literary anthology, and production research. The original 1921 edition has not been read.<\/li>
  5. Times of India, \u201cWho invented the rasgulla?\u201d 2015<\/a> \u2014 A sweet shop\u2019s family tradition, the story of an earlier confectioner, and other shops\u2019 refinements and canning.<\/li>
  6. Odisha Tourism post, \u201cA short trip to a Sweets Wonderland\u201d<\/a> \u2014 A Pahala shop\u2019s method and an example of its syrup. An account written by a visitor.<\/li>
  7. OrissaPOST, \u201cNo shortcuts in business: Kar,\u201d 2025<\/a> \u2014 The founding of the Salepur business and its production and packaging, as told by the family.<\/li>
  8. YourStory, \u201cHow the rosogolla turned pink,\u201d 2017<\/a> \u2014 How the same shop adjusted its method for storage and transport.<\/li>
  9. Journal of Dairy Research, \u201cTexture and microstructure of chhana and rasogolla,\u201d 1992<\/a> \u2014 A comparison of the structure of the coagulum and its structure after heating in syrup. The abstract was read; the full paper has not been read.<\/li><\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Slip a spoon into the round white sweet and sweet syrup seeps out of the milk-based dough. Rasgulla is a sweet made by kneading chhena (milk curdled with acid), rolling it into balls and cooking them in sugar syrup. A spongy springiness and high moisture content are its hallmarks, but Odisha\u2019s Rasagola ranges from cream-colored to brown. Color, springiness and the condition of the syrup vary from place to place.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7582,"menu_order":271,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_parade_sweetlore_meta":{"en":"Rasgulla\u30fbRasagola","subtitle":"Keeping Chhena from Becoming a Hard Cheese","topics":"Kneading soft chhena and rolling it into balls\uff0fCooking in syrup, then soaking in a separate syrup\uff0fOfferings to the gods and roadside shops","country":"India (West Bengal, Odisha, etc.)","show_toc":true,"ingredients":["cheese","cream"],"texture":[],"occasion":[],"method":["cooked"],"season":[]},"footnotes":""},"sweetlore_category":[164],"class_list":["post-8500","sweetlore","type-sweetlore","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"sweetlore_related_products":null,"sweetlore_related_faqs":null,"sweetlore_related_voices":null,"sweetlore_related_mode":"auto","sweetlore_related_articles":null},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t